Tiger II
The Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, also known as Königstiger '''(German "Bengal Tiger") and mistranslated by Allied soldiers as '''King Tiger, was a German heavy tank and the successor of the Tiger I. It first appeared in the anime in Episode 10. Background From 1937-1943, a new project had been started to gradually create new heavy tanks, with two manufacturers involved during the development (Henschel and Porsche). After the introduction of the Tiger I in 1942, they received a new order to develop a new, heavier tank with higher performance than the current Tiger I. The Henschel Tiger II was selected for production, being more conventional than the complicated Porsche Tiger II. The tank was armed with a longer 8.8 cm gun than the Tiger I's, the 8.8 cm KwK L/71 Gun, with very high penetration values at long distance, and protected by 150 mm sloped frontal armor. The early version was fitted with a rounded frontal turret (called a "Porsche" Turret) which had a conspicuous shot trap; later, the late version had an upgraded, flatter turret (called a "Henschel" turret) which solved the problem. The propulsion system was based on the Maybach HL 230 P30 engine, which however was underpowered and featured high fuel consumption. The suspension was a torsion bar design, with road wheels only overlapping and not interleaved as on the Tiger I. The Tiger II proved to be difficult to produce, and costly to maintain, with its high fuel consumption and careful maintenance. By 1945, a total of 492 Tiger IIs had been built. Also, with the war turning against Germany, every Tiger II''' lost in combat was irreplaceable. Some have suggested that the resources spent for the Tiger II would have been better to be spent to produce cheaper, more cost-effective vehicles such as StuG III and Hetzer. The Tiger II came with a tank destroyer variant, one of the most powerful vehicles produced during the WWII, the Jagdtiger. Weighing about 70 tons, the Tiger II was assigned only to separate heavy tank batallions. After initial teething troubles and reliability issue, both on the Western and the Eastern Front, it proved to be superior to any allied tanks operational at the time. Its gun could defeat any Allied tanks from a distance, while its frontal armor was very strong to deflect the enemy fire. But due to its low mobility, it could be easily flanked by fast tanks. In Girls und Panzer Kuromorimine Girls High School operated some Tiger IIs (recognizable as models produced from June to September 1944 by the nine sprocket teeths and the car jack at the rear) with Kuromorimine's vice commander Erika Itsumi commanded one of them. It's effectively used as a long range tank sniper and breakthrough tank, although it easily suffers from high fuel consumption and dislodged road wheels. During the finals against Ooarai Girls High School, 2 Tiger II were fielded. The Tiger II proved lethal at long range; during the ambush from the forest, they were attempting to snipe Ooarai's flag tank (Panzer IV), but accidentally took out the Type 3 Chi-Nu instead. Its weakness was revealed when, attempting to pursue the fleeing Ooarai force, one of Erika's Tiger II's road wheels got disconnected and fell off; this was pointed out by Darjeeling as the trade off for fielding heavy tanks to counter Pravda Girls High School, concluding that Kuromorimine was less able to cope with a very mobile battle. During the battle in the urban area, the Tiger IIs were seen splitting up in formation with some Panthers and Jagdpanzer IVs behind them to chase the remaining Ooarai tanks such as the Duck Team's Type 89B, while Erika's Tiger II and other Kuromorimine tanks tried to break through the barricade of the Tiger (P) where the flag tanks from both sides were fighting. Erika's Tiger II forced her way to the area by climbing on top of the knocked out Tiger (P) to pass through faster, but it was just too late to affect the outcome of the flag tank duel. Tank Specifications * '''Weight : '''69.8 tons * '''Length : 10.286 m * Width : 3.75 m * Height : 3.09 m * Main Armament : 1 x 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 Gun * Secondary Armament : '''2 x 7.92mm MG 34 Machine Guns * '''Hull armor / Turret armor : ** '''Front : 150 mm / 185 mm ** Sides : 80 mm / 80 mm ** Rear : 80 mm / 80 mm * '''Engine : '''V-12 Maybach HL 230 P30 700 PS (1200 hp) * '''Speed : 38 km/h References *Tiger II (Wikipedia) *Tiger II Specifications (WWIIVehicles) *Tiger II Official Anime Web (GirlsUndPanzer) Gallery Erika's Tiger II suffers a breakdown.jpg|Erika's Tiger II broke down Tiger II engaging M26.jpg|Erika's Tiger II engaging two M26 Tiger II knocked out.jpg|Tiger II knocked out Gup tigers.png|Tiger IIs leading the attack KuromorimineKingTiger01.jpg Category:Tanks Category:German Tanks Category:Heavy Tanks Category:Kuromorimine Girls' High School